Sabotaging Mills through Bankswitch

It is unthinkable that some government appointed officials particularly from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning will allow themselves to be used by a company set up by NPP Gurus to lobby government for a contract for the firm to do business in the Destination Inspection sector.

Worst, the company has absolutely no experience in destination inspection sector and yet still they want a contract to do business in Ghana after milking the country of hard-earned cash for virtually no job done.

Bankswitch Ghana Limited in partnership with The Get Group (an international a Passport, ID an IT Solutions Company, brought into the country by gurus of the opposition NPP in 2007 ostensibly to secure document for custom purposes, a function which was already being performed by the Destination Inspection Companies. The Original owners of Bankswitch are Mr. James Osei Poku and Dr. Kwabena Apenteng, all NPP Gurus.

The Enquirer Intelligence has gathered that notable among the names which ensured that the company is rooted in Ghana include the former Minister of State at the Finance Ministry; Dr. Anthony Akoto-Osei who is currently facing trial for willfully causing financial loss to the state. Another is Dr. Kwabena Apenteng , the Managing Director of Bankswitch and Mr. Harry Owusu then Executive Secretary of the Ghana Revenue Agencies Board among others. The NPP gurus who were behind the company in cahoots with some greedy officials of the Customs Exercise and Preventive Services (CEPS) after realizing that the services being provided by Bankswitch were a duplication of the functions of the Destination Inspection Companies (DIC) tried to metamorphose the company into DIC but could not succeed before the NPP was booted out of power. The partnership of The Get Group/Bankswitch Ghana was on December 12, 2007 awarded a contract by the NPP government without going through a tender process, in violation of the procurement law.

The contract, a copy of which is in the Possession of the Enquirer, was between ‘The Government of Ghana, Acting through the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (MOFEP)/ The Revenue Agencies Governing Board (RAGB) on one part and The Get Group/Bankswitch Ghana on the other.

The contract was for ‘The Ghana Customs, Excise And Preventive Service Secure Document Management System,’ which involved providing IT systems already being deployed by DICs.

The Agreement was signed by Dr. Anthony Akoto Osei and Harry Owusu (then the Executive Secretary of the RAGB) on behalf of the Government of Ghana and Dr. Kwabena Appenteng for Bankswitch, in the presence of Dr. Gerrard Darmanin( West Africa Director for Get Group).

Significantly, before the previous government signed the agreement, GET Group which partnered Bankswitch, was almost a collapsed company. The Company was reported to be highly indebted, with staff owed hundreds of thousands in salaries and entitlements. It was not clear whether due diligence was done on the company before that contract was signed. Information gathered by the Enquirer on the details of the contract awarded to Bankswitch, point to a duplication of the roles of DIC’s as well as GCNET and were changed on three occasions, an indication of the difficulty faced by the previous government to forcibly get the company, ‘non- existent’ job to do. Further, it is alleged that long before Bankswitch commenced operations, the company was being paid by government against work to be done.

Indeed, Minutes of the meeting held between members of the Revenue Agencies Governing Board (RAGB), Minister of State at the Ministry of Finance, GCNET and Bankswitch/GET Group on Thursday, June 5, 2008 at 2pm at the Ministry quoted the Dr. Akoto-Osei as saying that “It was important that Government ensured that the company did not collapse before the actual take off. He said a monthly figure of GH¢600,000 was being proposed as payments against future earnings to the company”.

Ever since the NPP left power some CEPS officials have been fronting for Bankswitch scheming to ensure that the company is awarded contract to do destination inspection business in Ghana. Alas, the company in collaboration with the CEPS Officials has got some government officials by their side who are shamelessly lobbying for a DIC contract for Bankswitch. In fact, Bankswitch is among ten companies which have put in a bid to be one of the DICs. As part of its moves to secure a DIC Contract, Bankswitch officials have been bluffing that when awarded the contract the company will generate more revenue for the state better than what is being done by the four existing DIC’s.

This, Industry experts say can only be achieved by inflating the already high duties and other taxes payable by importers to CEPS. The ripple effect of the act is that importers will have no option but to push the extra cost onto consumers.

There is no doubt that when Bankswitch is awarded the contract, the company will overburden consumers with high-price commodities and thereby negatively affecting the Better Ghana Agenda of the ruling Government. This is because importers will have to pay more to clear goods and after that push the cost onto consumers.

Further, local industries which depend on the importation of raw material and equipment for their business will have their production cost skyrocketing. Moreover, because Bankswitch has no track record in valuation and inspection, the company has currently linked up with Intertek to do valuation on its behalf. Intertek made a bid for destination inspection contract in Ghana in 1999 but lost and currently the company is reportedly going out of the inspection business. Currently the so-called services being offered by Bankswitch has no relevance to revenue collection since whatever data they generate are not utilized by customs in the determination of Import duties and other taxes to be paid by Importers but yet still the company is receiving payments from government.

Some top members of the ruling party, who spoke to The Enquirer on the condition of anonymity, noted that despite the fact that these ‘critical and damning’ revelations are known to the government officials they are still busily pushing for Bankswitch even to the extent of ensuring that some of the existing DICs are pushed out of business.

It is worthy of note that the Export and Import (Amendment Act 2000) Act 585 has it that, it is only the Minister of Trade who can appoint inspection companies to conduct inspecting services including valuation with regard to imports and exports.